Nation

HANOI (AFP) - Vietnam launched a search effort Saturday after it said a Malaysia Airlines jet carrying 239 people lost contact with traffic controllers near its airspace, as fears mounted over the plane's fate.

Regional authorities still could not locate Flight MH370 nearly 12 hours after it lost contact with air traffic control on an overnight flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

The airline has said the plane relayed no distress signal or other indications of trouble.

"The plane lost contact near Ca Mau province airspace as it was preparing to transfer to Ho Chi Minh City air traffic control," a statement posted on the official Vietnamese government website said.

The plane's signal was never transferred to Ho Chi Minh air traffic control, it added.

Ca Mau province is in southernmost Vietnam.

The ministry launched a rescue effort to find the plane, working in coordination with Malaysian and Chinese officials, the statement added.

Contact was lost at 2:40 am local time (1840 GMT Friday), about two hours after take-off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, the carrier's CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are deeply saddened this morning with the news on MH370," he told a press conference in Malaysia.

"Our focus now is to work with emergency responders and authorities, and mobilise full support," he added.

"And our thoughts and prayers are with all affected passengers and crew, and their family members."

The airline and Malaysian authorities were liasing with Vietnamese officials in a bid to locate the plane, he added.

A spokeswoman with a Thai agency that monitors the country's airspace told AFP the plane also did not cross over Thailand.

Screens at Beijing's airport indicated at first that the flight was "delayed", but later updated its status to "cancelled".

An accident would be a huge blow for the carrier, which has bled money for years as its struggles to fend off competition from rivals such as fast-growing AirAsia.

It recorded its fourth straight quarterly loss during the final three months of 2013, and warned of a "challenging" year ahead due to intense competition.

The carrier admitted in 2012 it was in "crisis", forcing it to implement a cost-cutting campaign centred on slashing routes and other measures.

In 2011, it chalked up a record 2.5 billion ringgit ($767 million) loss.

MH370's Boeing 777 has a solid safety record, with only a handful of incidents since its introduction in the mid-1990s.

In July 2013, a Boeing 777-200 operated by South Korea's Asiana Airlines skidded off the runway upon landing at San Francisco's international airport after it clipped a seawall before touching down.

Three people died.

"We're closely monitoring reports on Malaysia flight MH370. Our thoughts are with everyone on board," the manufacturer said in a statement on its Twitter feed.

Boeing has been beset by problems with its high-tech 787 Dreamliners put into service two years ago, including a months-long global grounding over battery problems last year.

The information vacuum regarding the flight touched off a frenzy on social media, which saw an outpouring of concern for passengers.

There were no immediate signs of passenger relatives descending in large numbers on Beijing's airport.

An AFP journalist saw one woman enter the arrivals zone at the airport and break down in tears. She was led away by police.

Reporters at Kuala Lumpur International Airport were barred from entering a specially-designated waiting area for relatives of those on the flight, as relatives looking somber and distraught trickled in escorted by authorities.

"They gave us no information so far," complained one man, whose niece and her husband were on the flight to go on a one-week holiday in China.